Back to the Shtetl

A pilgrimage to discover my family's roots that the Nazis tried to destroy.

I was 12 when I first noticed the photo. An elderly couple, she wore a kerchief, he a long beard. They sat in the front seat of an open wagon pulled by a large horse. Thatched cottages of an ancient looking shtetl (town) loomed in the background.

"Wow, Grandpa!" I asked earnestly. "How did you get this great photo from Fiddler on the Roof?"

To my astonishment he replied, "Those are my parents. In my hometown of Staszow (pronounced Stashov) in Poland."

I learned then that my mother's grandparents, together with her aunts and uncle and their 22 children who I had barely heard of before, were murdered in the Holocaust. Yet growing up in the comforts of Canada, details about the war, my relatives and Staszow remained as distant as the scene in the photo.

That all changed last month, when I was invited to participate in an Aish HaTorah Faculty visit to Poland. Meant to help us integrate more fully the reality of that tragedy -- and the potential tragedies if we fail to take the necessary action against our enemies of today -- 60 of us were to set out to visit the death camps and the ghettoes. I decided that if I would already be in Poland, perhaps I should include a visit to the old shtetl. But what remained of Jewish life there? Was there a way to learn where my family lived? Where to even start?

Google.

Searching for "Jewish Staszow" (after 10 attempts at other spellings), I discovered an article by a man named Jack Goldfarb, who had made a similar pilgrimage to Staszow and helped restore the old Jewish cemetery. Searching further, I clicked on a blog by a Danny Miller. Suddenly there appeared on my screen a picture of my great-great-uncle, Itcha Meyer Korolnek! Danny is his great-grandson, now a screenwriter in LA. He reminisced in his blog about the stories he'd heard from Itcha Meyer about life in Staszow. This led me to info from a 1932 Staszow Town Registry, which contained my great-grandparents' home address!

Another Google hunt led me to the marriage records of my great-grandparents. (Many of these records are thanks to the Mormon Church's efforts to document and posthumously baptize the Jews of Europe!) Leibish Unger and Esther Goldkind married in 1888. Esther gave birth to eight children, including my grandfather and his twin in 1903. Four children emigrated to Toronto in the 1920s, and the rest remained behind, in part because of their fear of a "less Jewish" environment abroad.

I learned about the remaining "Jewish sites" to be seen, tracked down a local English-speaking guide, and transportation. Everything was complete!

A few weeks ago, on a Thursday morning, my twin brother, Raphael, and I were picked up by a young Polish driver. I was feeling the drama and the excitement: the first return of our family since November 8, 1942, when the Jews of Staszow were driven from their homes and delivered to death at the Belzec concentration camp.

History of the Town

Jews had lived in Staszow since the 1400s. In 1610, the Christian ruler of the area, looking for a pretext to exile the Jews from his province, orchestrated a blood libel. They accused a local Jew of killing a Christian child to use his blood for Pesach matzah, the unlucky man was executed and the remaining Jews deported. Their possessions were confiscated and used to build the dominating church tower, which stands till today over Staszow. Invited to return by a subsequent ruler, Jews began to flourish there.

Like many other shtetls, by the time of World War II, Staszow was 60 percent Jewish, and on the whole enjoyed a rich Jewish life amongst their non-Jewish neighbors. (Except for the occasional small pogrom of course, like one in 1932.) They had a huge central synagogue, a Jewish inn, kosher butchers, mikvahs, a Jewish hospital and two yeshivot.

When the Germans conquered Poland in 1939, all that changed. Their quiet life was shattered. For two years my family lived a period of relative calm, but anxious worry. "Thank God we're well and we're coming along as best we can," my great-aunt wrote in May 1941. "If things will be quiet then it will be good. In the home everything is in the best order, you shouldn't worry about anything."

We are so worried. We are so nervous.

Perhaps more honestly, my grandfather received this note on the back of a photo from another aunt: "We are so worried, and we don't know what will be in the future. We are so nervous. Please answer soon."

That was the last the family was heard from.

With the help of archives I found at the New York Public Library website, I succeeded in piecing together the last months of my 32 relatives. On December 30, 1941,the uneasy quiet was broken. Staszow woke up to posters in the streets announcing that no Jew could leave the town. Transgressors would be shot. From that fateful day, their end was sealed and the disastrous campaign against them mounted quickly. On January 6, the "Fur Action" was announced: Jews were obliged to hand over all fur garments. Failure to comply punishable by death. Several Jews, not yet fully aware of the Nazi methods, were found in possession of furs and were shot.

On January 15, no Jewish business could operate except under the supervision of a German or Pole. The next few months saw regular incidents of mass robbery, beatings and occasional lynchings. By Passover, the last for the Jews of Staszow, they began hearing of the extermination actions in other shtetls around Poland. A 19-year-old girl tried to escape to the forests but was caught and shot. The holiday passed in great trepidation.

On June 15, the Ghetto Decree was announced. The 5,000 Jews of Staszow were forced to move into two small sections of the town, and their last meager means of making a living were cut off. A 6 p.m. curfew kept my family and the others crowded in strange homes in the worst sanitary conditions, 10-15 packed in a room. Another 2,000 people from neighboring villages were added to this pile of misery.

Mayor Suchan took every advantage to extort, terrorize and torment the Jews without relent. In August, a Jew was shot for baking bread, another for slaughtering a cow and four women for preparing a piece of leather.

The Jews desperately sold any last remaining belongings not already pilfered, for pennies. Homes, though, could not be sold. The Poles knew it was only a matter of time until they would be theirs: "A free new home for every family."

Polish peasants brought large sacks to gather the Jewish spoils.

By November 7, the Jews were well aware of their impending doom. A survivor wrote, "Maybe it is the last Shabbat, God forbid, of the fine and extensive Jewish community of Staszow. One does not wish to believe that the angel of death is already preparing to take our innocent souls. Everybody runs to see his near and dear ones, to console the dejected, to plan means of escape, and also to say goodbye to one another. We want to be together during our last moments."

That night, the community was ordered to prepare a feast for 150 members of the roving Nazi "resettlement" unit which was making its way from town to town. In anticipation, peasants from the vicinity had already gathered with large sacks to gather the spoils, impatiently asking "Hasn't it started yet?"

On the mournful dawn of November 8, 1942, the Jews were ordered to appear in the Market Square by 8 a.m. From there, 5,000 abandoned souls were marched off forever. Before they even left town, 189 had been murdered in the streets.

Running for the Bus

All this information generated intense feelings about my return to the shtetl of my ancestors. On one hand, it was the place drenched with the blood of my family. On the other, it was where they had lived, worked, laughed, celebrated births, marriages, bar mitzvahs, Shabbat and holidays, for so many generations.

When I told our driver the purpose of our visit, he hesitantly asked: "Had we heard whether Poles participated in the Holocaust in any way?" We were dumbstruck, not finding words to answer. Finally, we shared with him the common knowledge that Poles were considered by survivors to have been complicit with the Germans.

He said that growing up in Poland, where every student must visit Auschwitz and studying the Holocaust is mandatory, the Polish role in the fate of the Jews has been erased! As a hotel employee, he had once heard a lecture in sensitivity training (Jews are the number one tourist group to the country) where he was told that Poles were active participants, but was wondering if it was really true.

"In Staszow," I responded, "1,000 Jews found shelter in hidden bunkers and barns to avoid the final deportation. Of those, 900 were turned in by their neighbors."

Not 15 minutes passed, when he received a first hand illustration. As we drove toward Staszow, we decided to stop at the burnt-out synagogue in the town of Krasnik. The taxi pulled over to ask directions from an old lady standing by the road. When she heard the word "synagogue," she glanced quickly at us in the back seat, grabbed her bags, and raced away from us at granny-lightning speed.

Stunned, I turned to our driver and said, "Looks like she doesn't like Jews much."

Equally shocked, he replied, "No, I think she was just running for a bus." (There was no bus.)

A middle-aged woman yelled at us, "Go away!"

After finding and visiting the synagogue, we exited to the sight of a middle-aged woman in the back of a car, yelling something to our driver over and over. We asked what she was saying. Reluctantly, our driver confessed, "She's saying 'Go away!'" We had just encountered more hatred in the first hour off our tour bus, than in our entire lives in Canada! (Later, he cautioned us, that the word "Zyd," meaning Jew, "is not a nice word to use.")

With trepidation, we finally closed in on Staszow, now a picturesque village of 18,000. Zero Jews. We met our guide, Simon, in the Market Square, a large quaint open area surrounded by shops. As I stepped out of the car, my kippah proudly flashing on the top of my head (I decided not to wear a baseball hat -- I wanted to let the villagers know that we're still here), people all around stopped in their tracks and stared. For minutes.

From this spot 64 years ago, my great grandparents and their offspring had been led to their deaths in an act of hysterical evil that today's pastoral scene belied.

Raised in Staszow, Simon quickly pointed out that most of these stores were once owned by Jews. We decided to begin with the site of the synagogue. Once home to 5,000 congregants, it had been torn down ("because it was not being used") and replaced by an efficient-looking green office building. A small plaque noted the significance of the site.

Strolling back to Simon's car, under the watchful eyes of what felt like everyone in Staszow ("We don't get a lot of visitors here", Simon suggested helpfully), he pointed to a section of the sidewalk. "Once, after a snowfall, the whole sidewalk was covered with snow except for one spot. Someone noticed, and deduced there must be a Jewish family hiding in a secret basement below. The Nazis were called in and the family taken away."

As we circled the square in Simon's car, he shared with us what he had heard from his aunt, who lived through the war. "The day the Germans entered the town, the first thing they did was grab a rabbi. They tied him by his hands to one of their cars, and dragged him round and round this square until he died."

Next stop was the local history museum, located nondescriptly in the basement of a Communist-era block apartment building. We expected it to be devoted to the memory of the 60 percent of the community which had been obliterated. We were someone surprised to discover the first room full of Staszow's famous sabers, and photos of prize Arabian horses. The next large room wasn't more relevant either, but moving through it, we were guided to a closet-sized alcove: the memorial to 5,000 Jews. A few photos, a map of the ghetto, and a couple of cheap menorahs filled most of the "Jewish wing."

The prize possession, though, was a Torah scroll from the old synagogue. As we studied it, we were abruptly joined by an older ruddy-faced gentleman with a large smile who began to speak to us rapidly in Polish. He was Simon's uncle -- apparently tipped off to the presence of Jewish visitors -- who had personally handcrafted the glass and wood case that housed the Torah. He assured us that they were aware of the scroll's holiness, and had washed their hands before handling it. He recounted how the Torah had been rescued from the burning synagogue by a 9-year-old boy.

I, Survivor

We headed off to our next destination: the family home. What would we find? The same old home? (Many still existed throughout the town.) Something familiar from the photo which started this odyssey? At the corner of the street, an ancient-looking grey wood structure stood, with a couple of derelicts at the door. This was the old Jewish bathhouse -- mikveh, no doubt -- which was now occupied by "low income residents."

At last we found the address. We were disappointed to see that it was a newish home, but nevertheless we were overcome with feelings of nostalgia. In the back, an aged barn and garden gave us a taste of what it might have been like. Across the road we excitedly spotted a place that looked right out of the pictures of the shtetl, complete with old wooden wagon and live chickens! I pulled out my camera, when suddenly an old woman began to scream and headed toward us from the coop. (We had been warned that Poles often react this way to foreigners, suspecting that they're Jews coming to reclaim lost property.) Simon calmed her down, but by that time several other neighbors had emerged from their homes to witness the excitement. We entered into a pleasant conversation with the next door neighbors, who weren't quite old enough to be worried about their property.

After the requisite photo shoot, we continued through the picturesque, impossibly quiet streets, until we came upon a massive tower and impressive Medieval church. This, then, was the "Blood Libel" tower built from plunder of the first exile of Staszow's Jews in 1610.

Every tombstone had been smashed.

Before taking leave of Staszow we had one final stop, the cemetery where Jews had been buried for six centuries. Every tombstone had been smashed. One more recent tombstone brought the tears to our eyes. It read, "Here lie the remains of two people, one a teenager, one in his 40s, whose remains were found in the year 2000 in a basement bunker. Assumed to be Jews who had hidden during the war, they were re-interred here."

On the road out of Staszow, a road filled with blood and tears that will eternally cry out from the earth, Simon filled in the final details of our family's last day on earth. "All the non-Jews were instructed to bring every wagon and horse to the Market Square. At 10 a.m. the miserable procession began to move out of town. They were marched on this road for five miles until they reached the town of Niszen. Here, a mass grave was dug and 740 victims were slaughtered. The rest continued another 10 miles until they reached the train station. They were packed in, 100 to a cattle car, and shipped off to Belzec for extermination."

Life expectancy: four hours.

The Jewish community of Staszow was no more. I don't look at that picture of my great grandparents and their wagon the same way anymore. They are now a conscious part of me. I am their memory. I am their survivor.

Featured at Aish.com:

About the Author

Rabbi Ephraim Shore is the Executive Director of Aish HaTorah Jerusalem, ​a founding director and board member of HonestReporting Canada and the founder of the Jerusalem Fellowships. Prior to making aliyah, he was Executive Director of Aish Miami and Aish Toronto.

This is your cousin, Jeffrey Spiegelman. I have the exact picture displayed in my home. It was passed down to me from my beloved Grandmother, Rose Gula, your granfather's sister. Thank you so much for recounting the story. It fills in many blanks from stories I have heard over the years about my Grandmother's family. All the Best! Jeff

(41)
Anonymous,
March 6, 2014 11:05 AM

Visiting poland as we speak and wept after reading this article

I am one if the camera people of Schindler's list and jewish.I have taken my 15 year old daughter from the Netherlands where we live, to Poland to visit our jewish heritage sites, the auschwitz and plaszow concentration camps and some Schindler's list filming locations.

Yesterday during our visit to the plaszow concentrationcamp site near to Krakau we were parked near the infamous Gray House. When we returned all four our tires were cut if our rental car. Support only arrived five hours later and we were told by the road service guy that he was here for the fifth time already this month to towe away "the cars of jews". I asked him how on earth he could know we were jews (wearing my kipa under a cap) he replied that only jews come here and drive rental cars and that the neighborhood (??? just a handful of houses) is fed up with their visits.....

That was yesterday and i'm still in shock about this happening in 2014 in a modern westeuropean country.

After coincidentally finding your article through google, tears came to my eyes reading it. I wanted to believe that things had changed here. I wanted to show my daughter that this is all part of a gruesome past. I was not prepared to find hatred towards jews today and i have no idea how i should explain this to my daughter.

In retrospect, this also explains the new (vandalism) damages in Auschwitz-Birkenau and to all the Jewish cemetaries. The graffity sprayed on almost every monument.The Polish government is not concerned and i am sure all our Jewish heritage sites, cemetaries and munuments will be lost soon...

I just want to go home, where things are only slightly better when it comes to antisemitism, but at least there i can raise my voice in my native language.

Martin Beek, Eindhoven - the Netherlands

(40)
jgarbuz,
February 2, 2013 4:05 PM

They couldn't pay me enough to "come back" even to see it.

I was born in a DP Camp after WWII to my mother who was from the shtetl of Boremel in Poland. Everyone else was murdered and she just barely survived thanks only to a few righteous christians..
As far as I am concerned, that part of our history has been burned to ashes and we should turn our backs on it. As far as I am concerned, the future of the Jewish people is either in Israel or on to oblivion. I'm not saying we should forget, but to focus on the future and not on the past.

(39)
Anonymous,
February 1, 2013 6:12 PM

Powerful story!It also appears to help others and empathize with those searching their roots and heratige coming from similar family experiences

(38)
Dr. Gary S. Schiff,
February 1, 2013 4:25 PM

New book on this very subject

I enjoyed this moving story very much. My new book, "In Search of Polin: Chasing Jewish Ghosts in Today's Poland (Peter Lang Publishing, available on Amazon.com) tells many similar stories about my own family, stretching back to the 1700's, as well as placing the whole subject in a wider historical context. Based on my own visits to Poland, plus years of historical and genealogical research, as well as decades of teaching at the college and graduate level, the book is a melange of academic history and family history. Those of you who enjoyed reading this story might well enjoy the book as well. Thanks.

(37)
scott,
January 31, 2013 10:45 AM

"Ancestral Lands?"

I am always troubled by accounts of Jews returning to their "ancestral" lands in Poland. Jews lived in Poland for 700 years amongst people that had little love for us. Why? Comfort? Attachment to property? Fear of the unknown if they should start out for Israel? Attachment to a yeshiva culture that had no business being built outside of Israel?
We were exiled to Egypt and held by force for 400 years. We lived in Poland for 700 and no one really barred the gates to keep us from leaving...in fact they routinely through discourtesy, banishment, confiscations, pogroms-culminating in the Shoah-made it clear that our presence was not desired. I'm just asking why in comparison to packing a bag and living in Ottoman Israel, we felt for so long that living among people that hated us was the safer and better choice? Why was it better to suffer at the hands of Poles in exile than experience the same at home at the hands of Ottomans in Eretz Yisroel?
Our only ancestral land is Israel. Everywhere else is simply a stopover on the way home-no matter how long that period may have been. I understand that Jews return to connect with family history but I absolutely fail to get why Jewish tourism would be the largest sector in the Polish market. Go once. Take some pictures. Look up the places from your family history. See the camps. Say kaddish for their souls and ours. But then leave and don't return.
What if instead of looking back to Poland-a place we should have never stayed for 700 years working wonders for the nations while Israel lay fallow, bereft of any real Jewish industry, Jews spent all their tourist dollars going to Israel? We could spend our travel dollars giving our children a connection to the eternal home of the living Jewish people rather than visiting the graves of Jews who unfortunately stayed too long among the nations.
Maybe the next generation might fall in love with our future and make the final aliyah.

Baruch Ben-Yosef,
January 31, 2013 1:48 PM

BRAVO!

Well-said!

Sue,
February 1, 2013 10:10 AM

Ancestral Lands?

Scott, you are so right. Poland should be bitterly ashamed of it's antiSemitism.

Ariel Ephraim,
February 1, 2013 4:28 PM

Made me think

Awesome comment. Really makes me wonder: why?

Herbert Kaine,
February 1, 2013 5:26 PM

I partially agree with you

You are correct that Jews would have been better off in Eretz Yisrael and wonder why Jews remained in Poland. I think that people didnt think in terms of the mobility that we think of. A trip to Eretz Yisrael in those days was extremely long and hazardous, and meant saying goodby to family forever. People often prefer a known bad quantity to the unknown

Y'Didyah,
August 21, 2013 12:56 AM

Amen

Learn from the Past and build the Future.

(36)
Kepha ben Israel,
January 30, 2013 10:29 PM

Thank you Rabbi Shore.

This article brought tears to my eyes. We who were born after the Holocaust and the terror of the war have little or no idea and it humbles and saddens me deeply. There is a passage in the Tanakh that tells us in these days there will be those who take up names of the ancient Hebrews and one passage says, "and some will take the surname Israel". I am one of those. While I was born and live down in the safety of the South Pacific in New Zealand my heart is for Israel and her people wherever they are. And yet even here I found recently that New Zealand had refused entry to Jews after the war. For that I apologise and if I can do one thing to redress this hatred i pray God grant me the power and strength and will to do so.

(35)
irving baker,
January 30, 2013 9:54 PM

my visit to yedwabne

I Made a similar trip with similar results to my Fathers ancestral hom in Yedwabne, N.E. Poland. My Father fortunately left before the Holocaust, but much of the family remained and met the same fate.

(34)
Irving Baker,
January 30, 2013 5:18 PM

Visit to Jedwabne

I had a very sinilar experience in a visit to my Fathers and his families home town of Jedwabne. My Father left before the Holocaust but much of the family remained and met the same fate.

(33)
Anonymous,
January 30, 2013 10:49 AM

Jews, come home to Israel!!

The only answer to the Poles, Nazis and Hamans of every generation is to come home to the land that Hashem promised us. This is where we belong - not the USA, Canada or anywhere else. Now we can continue to build a strong and beautiful homeland - and leave the punishment of the diaspora far behind.

(32)
Murray Nosanchuk,
January 29, 2013 10:15 PM

Thank you for your article

Rabbi Shore, thank you for sharing the account of your visit back to your family shtettle. I made a similar trip to my family's shtettles of Rubeleh and Stolin in Belarus. Although there were only a handful of Jews in the region - the Jewish community is mostly centred in Pinsk - we were fortunate not encounter anti-semitism. We dedidcated a monument in Rubel and many locals attended as well as a Yiddish concert put on by my Belarussian friends. Except for my father Michael, all my family were amount the 7,000 killed in the forest near Stolin. Sad. Would I ever go back. No. Was I sorry I went there even though my late father forbid me - no. I'm glad I went. It helps bring closure. Plus you will never forget it, even though your experience was not the best of a horrible situation. It was worthwhile to hear the Torah is at least being treated with respect. Thanks for your story...

(31)
aidel,
January 29, 2013 7:48 PM

very interesting. if anyone has inforation about the insel family from pilzno, please get in touch with me. thank you.

(30)
Anda Meisels Rosen,
January 29, 2013 7:46 PM

A survivor's from a small town in Poland confirmation of the collaboration of locals with the Germans in finding hidden Jews and looting their properties.

With a heavy heart I read this article about Staszov. I am a survivor from a small town in Eastern Poland, Sambor. Although Poland was defeated by the Germans, when it came to the Jews the great majority of Poles fully collaborated and pointed out to the Germans who was Jewish and where they may be hiding. Often we feared the local Poles and Ukrainians more than the Germans. Their nhatred of us and their greed after our possessions was so big. After each raid they emptied our homes, and eventually moved into them when we were forced into a ghetto, that was soon liquidated and the remainder of Jews murdered in a local forest Yet, there were a few noble Gentile souls whose courage, and humanity was was amazing. They were rare. My father was saved by a poor Ukrainian couple who refused payment. At one point I was saved by a Polish woman, when another Pole was about to kill me.

Anonymous,
January 30, 2013 11:57 AM

Christians also suffered under the Germans

The Holocaust did not occur in a vacuum. Poles were turned out of their homes when the Germans requistioned them to give to Germans or to turn neighborhoods into ghettos. In every socieity there are lowlifes who take advantage of others' misfortunes. Christian homes were also looted in occupied Poland. In America, it takes a lot less than a world war and brutal occupation to instigate looting and other forms of societal breakdown. Witness the Rodney King riots, or even something as simple as a sports team losing a game and "fans" despoiling a nieghborhood.

Anonymous,
January 31, 2013 3:15 PM

Rebuttal to "Anonymous"

Your comment is "interesting" (and I'm being kind here). You're right in saying that the Holocaust did not occur in a vacuum. It occurred in a background of centuries' worth of Jew-hatred on the part of the European Christians. Who were the main perpetrators of this genocide? German Christians, Polish Christians, Lithuanian Christians, Romanian Christians, Hungarian Christians, and on and on. Am I the only one who sees a pattern here?

anonymous,
February 2, 2013 1:57 AM

Stereotyping gone amuck

The Germans killed as many Polish Christians as Polish Jews. All people were struggling for survival under the occupation. My father and other relatives risked their lives to help people like you. Your problem is that this does not conform to your stereotype of Poles as nothing but rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth Jew haters. You are engaging in the same scapegoating and stereotyping of which you accuse others.

(29)
Bette,
January 29, 2013 7:19 PM

Poland's anti Semites

My grandmother was from Urzendow, near Lublin. An orthodox family. She was one of 7 children. She and one of her sisters arrived in the U.S. prior to WWI. The rest were murdered. She used to tell me how a 'fiery" anti Jewish young priest would rev up his Sunday parishioners and they would then leave church and break Jewish store front windows and shovel manure into the Jewish homes. Her father used to play chess with an elderly priest who said that the young priest was going to doom Poland by treating the Jews this badly because the bible said whoever cursed the Jews would then be cursed. My grandmother would refuse to speak Polish because of the Jew hatred. When word of impending Jewish deaths and German atrocities filtered in, she begged her parents and siblings to come to America. My great grandfather said that the Poles wouldn't harm them because his sons had admirabily served in the Polish military. More futile words. Will we Jews never learn?

(28)
Gerri Carr,
January 29, 2013 7:01 PM

There were Righteous Poles, as well.

My aunt and uncle, Mazur, are listed with the names of the Righteous Poles who hid Jewish families during the war, at risk to their own safety. They hid a mother, father, and daughter, somehow, in a barn where the only entrance was through a dog house. The Jewish family, eventually, migrated to the U.S. I am grateful there were some people who loved the Jews in Poland.

(27)
Carol Dove,
January 29, 2013 6:52 PM

Lack of history on Poland

What I find rather sad is what was taking place for many of the Polish that were fighting for Poland and never saw this "relative calm". Poland never formally surrendered and were taken over by both Nazi and Soviet. I wish when ones decides to write on this subject they knew the full history. "Polish peasants brought large sacks to gather the Jewish spoils." Is highlighted yet no where will you read of the victims listed in the Black book of Poland, Katyn or deported to Siberia just to name a few. Time the full history is told and the blood spilled trying to save the people is added. Please read up on poland prior to judging.

(26)
Baruch Ben-Yosef,
January 29, 2013 6:11 PM

Polish Anti-Semitism

Poland became a hotbed of rabid Jew-hatred back in the 14th century, when the Poles converted from paganism to Christianity. The Eastern European Jews overstayed their "welcome" among their Christian "hosts". The Gemara teaches us: "Uproot your foot from your neighbor's house" - that is, don't overstay your welcome. That, of course, does not excuse the murderous hatred of the European Christians toward their Jewish "guests".

Anonymous,
January 29, 2013 11:33 PM

1000 years of Jews in Poland

Actually, Poland became Christian in 966, not in the 14th Century. Jews were in Poland for a thousand years; it was where they immigrated when other countries expelled them. Why were so many Jews there for so long if it was so horrible? A rhetorical question.

(25)
shelli karzen,
January 29, 2013 5:12 PM

Lots of Jews in Israel descended from Stashov

My husband and I are both descended from descendants of Stashov residents: Ray, Friedman and Weiss families. Those families thank G-d left Stashov for the US before the onset of the Holocaust. Friedman family lore tells of an uncle who died of a broken heart after a Jew was hanged from his windmill in Stashov.
Thank G-d, we have many family members living and thriving in Israel today - a happy sequel to a heartbreaking story. Thank you for your article!

(24)
Jason,
January 29, 2013 5:06 PM

Proposterous

I have visited Poland many times over the past ten years. I am a Rabbi with a full beard and big black Yarmulkeh. No one will mistaken me for anything else. And I have never, not once, encountered any type of anti-Semitism from anyone throughout the extensive places I have been over the entire country! Did you know that the Polish government is one that is from the strongest supporters of Israel over the enitre WORLD? Did you know that business between Israel and Poland is one of the strongest? To condemn today's Poles in a country that forces every single one of its students to go to Auschwitz is a sign of boorish ignorance. By the way, more than half of the "righteous Gentiles" at Yad Vashem are Poles. Yes, there are losers and haters everywhere. Just go visit any little shtetl in the USA. They will be curious, as were the Poles, and some will be haters, as are some of the Poles. Why don't you get rid of your hate first.

cee,
January 30, 2013 2:57 AM

so you were lucky

Again, you were lucky. I have heard more stories similar to the author's. You are the exception and the general rule is not preposterous. So they go to concentration camps to learn that they too were the victims and not responsible in any way for the murder of Jews and the Nazi successes. Some education. Shame on you. The author is not filled with hate, just the truth.

Jason,
January 30, 2013 7:56 PM

The author is wrong

Excuse me, I have been there over TEN times! Lucky? I don't think so. People have been extremely gracious to me. Most of the author's stories are ASSUMPTIONS. Like the spies in Israel: They felt like grasshoppers, because they BEHAVED like them. This article is misleading and simply not true.

Anonymous,
January 31, 2013 3:25 PM

?PROPOSTEROUS?

Dear "Rabbi with a full beard and big black Yarmulkeh": How do we know that you are who you say you are? Perhaps you're actually the Polish Minister of Tourism! (And you misspelled "preposterous".)

Anonymous,
January 31, 2013 8:06 PM

Jew Hatred Continues in Poland

My daughter went with her seminary and these Jewish young women were repeatedly harassed by anti Semites throughout their tour of Poland. At one point while visiting a synagogue it was surrounded by Polish youth who looked through the windows and pantomimed cutting the girls' throats.

(23)
lillie brum,
April 30, 2012 8:32 PM

re: pbs special about pilgramage to staszow

My mother, a Weksler, was from Staszow. Has the pbs special been tracked down?

(22)
Anonymous,
February 15, 2011 6:45 PM

My family were the Goldfeder's from Staszow. Thank you for posting this story, I would like to return to staszow someday myself. Many years ago, PBS's Frontline did a story on a jewish pilgrimage to stazow, if anyone knows how to locate a copy (I tried) I would greatly appreciate it.

(21)
Anonymous,
February 18, 2010 7:11 AM

Sali Levi who died in '41
Sali Levi was my grandfather. His daughter, Ruth (Levi) Eis lives in Oakland, California

(20)
Anonymous,
February 18, 2010 7:10 AM

,Reb Shore,
My alter zaide, Altera Leibish Linksman (A"H), left Staczow, with his 6 children, in 1920, and settled in Brooklyn. It is said that he had a dairy store on the outskirts of town. In recent years, I have met 2 other LINKSMANs from Staczow, who are at best, 5th cousins, based on shared geneologies: Benny Linksman (A"H) of Thornhill/Toronto, an Auschwitz survivor, and Alex Linksman of Karmiel/Haifa, whose late father was born in Staczow, but emigrated to Argentina in the '30s. I live in Dallas, TX. Two summers ago, my wife traveled (without me) to Poland with her Auschwitz survivor father, Mendel Jakubovicz (Mike Jacobs). He is from Konin. In deference to me, they stopped in Staczow for a few hours and took some pictures. It's not much of a village, even now. My family's collective graves are at House of David in Elmont, NY.

(19)
Anonymous,
February 18, 2010 7:10 AM

There is a common thread between your search and mine. I appreciate your diligence with this story and will attempt a similar journey. Shalom.
Davie Levi

Barry Meinster,
July 13, 2012 2:12 AM

Father and Grandparents from Staczow

My grandfather (alter Meinsterstuck) and family left Staczow in 1904 and settled in Phila with other Jews from the town. The Staczow Landsmannschaften was the largest group of Jews who lived along South Street in South Phila. Having done some research, I learned that the Germans used the headstones from that cemetary for building blocks and that there has been an effort to replace these headstones to their right graves. Another website http://www.staszow.co.uk/index.html

(18)
Anonymous,
February 18, 2010 7:09 AM

Please help me to find anyone who knew the above mentioned beloved Chaplain of all the camps in Germany until he died too in 1941. He was from Mainz, Germany.

(17)
Anonymous,
February 18, 2010 7:08 AM

Familt from Staszow
I have just read the article about Staszow, My Grandfather Samual Jacobovitch, came to England there. He and his brothers and sisters left there in the early 1900's. His father was a butcher, there. I can find no details of his father who died there before 1915, but his mother came to join them in the 1920's. I have no knowledge at this time of any members of the family that may have been left in Staszow.

(16)
Eve Rothfarb,
October 13, 2007 12:55 PM

Staczow was home to the Levinshpils too

I am trying to trace my genealogy, and have traced my roots as far as the 1880's in Staczow (they spelled it Stashov).

(15)
Wayne Linksman,
July 8, 2007 4:23 PM

My family is from Staczow

Reb Shore,My alter zaide, Altera Leibish Linksman (A"H), left Staczow, with his 6 children, in 1920, and settled in Brooklyn. It is said that he had a dairy store on the outskirts of town. In recent years, I have met 2 other LINKSMANs from Staczow, who are at best, 5th cousins, based on shared geneologies: Benny Linksman (A"H) of Thornhill/Toronto, an Auschwitz survivor, and Alex Linksman of Karmiel/Haifa, whose late father was born in Staczow, but emigrated to Argentina in the '30s. I live in Dallas, TX. Two summers ago, my wife traveled (without me) to Poland with her Auschwitz survivor father, Mendel Jakubovicz (Mike Jacobs). He is from Konin. In deference to me, they stopped in Staczow for a few hours and took some pictures. It's not much of a village, even now. My family's collective graves are at House of David in Elmont, NY.

(14)
Hannah,
August 17, 2006 12:00 AM

To visit or not to visit

My mother was born in Poland,

(13)
elisse jo goldstein,
July 30, 2006 12:00 AM

Heartbreaking

Heartbreaking. I do understand his desire to return, for I always wonder about my maternal grandmother's birthplace (Sednev in the Ukraine)

(12)
C. Siegel,
July 26, 2006 12:00 AM

Why Give These People Your Tourist Dollars?

I'm sorry, but it is clear that nothing in Staszow has really changed for the Jews. The population are overwhelmingly antisemitic, even when there aren't any Jews. Curiosity aside, why should we spend our money there? Let them stew in their own miserable juice, without us to enrich their feeble economy. There's nothing worth seeing in Poland that justifies Jewish tourism and Jewish money.

(11)
Anonymous,
July 26, 2006 12:00 AM

I was very moved by this article and ache for those who underwent such tragic endings. It is impossible for me to imagine such cruel people and thesuffering of Jews as a result of their atrocities.I have seen the ghettos in Warsaw and the pictures and letters nailed to thetrees around the train station where the Jews were loaded on cattle cars and sent to their deaths. I weep for this horrible act as recorder in history.I thank God that people like the writer are able to go back and see where their grandparents and parents lived.

(10)
Anonymous,
July 25, 2006 12:00 AM

Very different experience visiting Staszow

I just wanted to point out that I had a very different experience when I visited Staszow in April of 2002, accompanied by my mother and sister (my father, who did not come with us to Poland, had been born in Staszow in 1921 and survived the war in labour camps before coming to Toronto). We found people very helpful in finding the cemetery and the museum. My mother, who speaks Polish, asked the woman in the library where to get the key to the cemetery and she made aobut 10 phone calls until she found the right person. When my mother thanked her for the time she had taken, she replied that it was her job to find information for people. She then sent a woman from the library in the taxi with us to direct us. After a stop at the museum, we got to the Municipal Services office, and that man got in his car and led us to the cemetery. So our group of 3 had grown to 6 by the time we got there and they were very respectful while we walked around the few stones that had been restored there at the time (since then more stones have been added). Similarly, in other places whenever we asked for directions, help was offered.

(9)
Darryl Goldberg, M.D.,
July 25, 2006 12:00 AM

I was spellbound by the Rabbi's account of his visit to his grreat grandpaarents shtetl

I read the touching experience by Rabbi Shore and I am gripped with fear and concern for our people in Israel and the realization that except for the United States, very few people care whether we live or die.Never again!

(8)
Jack Goldfarb,
July 25, 2006 12:00 AM

Mistaken View of Staszow Cemetery

Rabbi Shore's description of the Staszow Cemetery (175 years old, not 6 centuries)has failed to mention that 60 years after the Holocaust we recovered, almost miraculously, 140 of the original "lost" gravestones, returning them to the cemetery in a belated triumph over the Nazis' aim to obliterate all traces of the Staszow Jews. We also recently discovered the exact site of the mass grave in the Staszow Cemetery and erected a fitting matzeva to honor these tragic victims.

(7)
Adam Pulawski,
July 24, 2006 12:00 AM

Letter to Rabbi Ephraim Shore

I read your artical. It was very moving. But I hope you met more a such Pole as Simon... It is sad.Adam PulawskiChelm, Poland

(6)
Lisa Sklar,
July 24, 2006 12:00 AM

Very touching.

My own family and all that they owned was destroyed in Romania by the government and the Nazis. I have never journeyed to the place where my ancestors raised children, established businesses, and then ran for their lives, some not making it. Someday I may return there, but regardless I will pass on the history and duty of being a survivor to my unborn children.

(5)
David S. Levine,
July 24, 2006 12:00 AM

The Same in Bransk

My family comes from Bransk, near Bialystock. It was the subject of the 1996 PBS Frontline program "Shtetl" which was never repeated on PBS due to Polish American pressure. The description of how the Jews of Bransk were removed from the town; Polish peasants providing the carts, is the same. This must be the perfected technique. At any rate I honor my grandparents who came to the USA 100 yearts ago. My grandmother arrived in Ellis Island on July 31, 1906 with my aunts and uncle, 100 years ago! My mother and another aunt were born here, thank G-d!

(4)
Sharon Frant Brooks,
July 23, 2006 12:00 AM

I did a similar trip this summer

I went for 2 weeks to Poland and did a similar type of trip. My dad's shtetl was even smaller, when he lived there it was 1200 people, 50 Jews. Now, 1000 people live in Dubiecko, no Jews. The Nazis entered Dubiecko (in Galicia- near Przemysl) on the 2nd day of Rosh HaShanah and burned down the shul with 250 Jews inside. Of my father's very large extended family, only 2 cousins survived. My uncle was shot by the River San for refusing to swim across to the Ukraine (he could not swim). The cemetary has no stones remaining- but our guide showed us (I went with 2 cousins) where 194 Jews were shot in the cemetary and buried in a mass grave there. Most of my family, not killed in the town itself, were also sent to Belzec - a pure death camp - sent by way of Przemysl ghetto. However, in Dubiecko we did not encounter any absolute anti-semitism. We do understand that many towns people are wary of Jews who come to seek out traces of family history because they fear that Jews may be seeking to get their homes or possessions back. One very kind man, whose mother and father in law (recently deceased) rescued holy books from the ground around the burned synagogue and protected them knowing they were "holy books". They have been given to Professor Norman Bertram, a professor at Tourno College and also a descendent of Dubiecko, who donated them to the USA Holocaust museum. He gave me sections of books, pages without covers and in partially charred pieces, which I have brought home with me. I spent a week studying at Yad VaShem immediately thereafter, which helped me to put all of this in perspective.

(3)
Kay,
July 23, 2006 12:00 AM

very moving

I found the Rabbi's story very moving. I am very interested in my own heritage. My grandfather came from Germany as a young man. His family feared for him in the political unrest. On the boat on his way to the USA he met Anhauser Busch and turned down an offer of starting a business with him!In the 1970s we did research to find the part of his family he had left behind. Of course, they had all disappeared. We were sent photos, though, by the German government. Apparently the German penchant for organization and filing spilled over even to the family photos that were recovered from the belongings of those in the death camps. Each of these photos was stamped "Juden" across its face. There was a photo of one woman, dressed in the style of the 1890s, who looked shockingly like my own mother, daughter of my grandfather. This is the piece of my story that I know. Thank you for yours.

(2)
Warren Bank,
July 23, 2006 12:00 AM

A poignant moving article..

I remember seeing that photograph on display in the Shore's home in Toronto many years ago -brings back memories, although I had no idea what a tragic past lay behind this nostalgic photo. Rabbi Ephraim that must have been quite a journey for you.. please do be in touch if you read this message - I would love to be in contact with you again..Fond regardsWarren Bank, Johannesburg South Africa

(1)
Anonymous,
July 23, 2006 12:00 AM

Want advice

My son will, B'H, be attending a program in Israel for the fall semester, and they have a weeklong trip to Prague and Poland. The parents are able to attend, too, and have the option of continuing back to Israel the next week.I would appreciate others' insights into whether I ought to go. After reading this article, I am filled with disgust and contempt for the Poles. I welcome other people's opinions.

I’m wondering what happened to the House of David. After the end of the Kingdom of Judah was there any memory what happened to King David’s descendants? Is there any family today which can trace its lineage to David – and whom the Messiah might descend from?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Thank you for your good question. There is no question that King David’s descendants are alive today. God promised David through Nathan the Prophet that the monarchy would never depart from his family (II Samuel 7:16). The prophets likewise foretell the ultimate coming of the Messiah, descendant of David, the “branch which will extend from the trunk of Jesse,” who will restore the Davidic dynasty and Israel’s sovereignty (Isaiah 11:1, see also Jeremiah 33:15, Ezekiel 37:25).

King David’s initial dynasty came to an end with the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Exile. In an earlier expulsion King Jehoiachin was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar, together with his family and several thousand of the Torah scholars and higher classes (II Kings 24:14-16). Eleven years later the Temple was destroyed. The final king of Judah, Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah, was too exiled to Babylonia. He was blinded and his children were executed (II Kings 25:7).

However, Jehoiachin and his descendants did survive in exile. Babylonian cuneiform records actually attest to Jehoiachin and his family receiving food rations from the government. I Chronicles 3:17:24 likewise lists several generations of his descendants (either 9 or 15 generations, depending on the precise interpretation of the verses), which would have extended well into the Second Temple era. (One was the notable Zerubbabel, grandson of Jehoiachin, who was one of the leaders of the return to Zion and the construction the Second Temple.)

In Babylonia, the leader of the Jewish community was known as the Reish Galuta (Aramaic for “head of the exile,” called the Exilarch in English). This was a hereditary position recognized by the Babylonian government. Its bearer was generally quite wealthy and powerful, well-connected to the government and wielding much authority over Babylonian Jewry.

According to Jewish tradition, the Exilarch was a direct descendant of Jehoiachin. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 5a) understands Genesis 49:10 – Jacob’s blessing to Judah that “the staff would not be removed from Judah” – as a reference to the Exilarchs in Babylonia, “who would chastise Israel with the staff,” i.e., who exercised temporal authority over the Jewish community. It stands to reason that these descendants of Judah were descendants of David’s house, who would have naturally been the leaders of the Babylonian community, in fulfillment of God’s promise to David that authority would always rest in his descendants.

There is also a chronological work, Seder Olam Zutta (an anonymous text from the early Middle Ages), which lists 39 generations of Exilarchs beginning with Jehoiachin. One of the commentators to Chronicles, the Vilna Gaon, states that the first one was Elionai of I Chronicles 3:23.

The position of Exilarch lasted for many centuries. The Reish Galuta is mentioned quite often in the Talmud. As can be expected, some were quite learned themselves, some deferred to the rabbis for religious matters, while some, especially in the later years, fought them and their authority tooth and nail.

Exilarchs existed well into the Middle Ages, throughout the period of the early medieval scholars known as the Gaonim. The last ones known to history was Hezekiah, who was killed in 1040 by the Babylonian authorities, although he was believed to have had sons who escaped to Iberia. There are likewise later historical references to descendants of the Exilarchs, especially in northern Spain (Catelonia) and southern France (Provence).

Beyond that, there is no concrete evidence as to the whereabouts of King David’s descendants. Supposedly, the great French medieval sage Rashi (R. Shlomo Yitzchaki) traced his lineage to King David, although on a maternal line. (In addition, Rashi himself had only daughters.) The same is said of Rabbi Yehuda Loewe of Prague (the Maharal). Since Ashkenazi Jews are so interrelated, this is a tradition, however dubious today, shared by many Ashkenazi Jews.

In any event, we do not need be concerned today how the Messiah son of David will be identified. He will be a prophet, second only to Moses. God Himself will select him and appoint him to his task. And he himself, with his Divine inspiration, will resolve all other matters of Jewish lineage (Maimonides Hilchot Melachim 12:3).

Yahrtzeit of Kalonymus Z. Wissotzky, a famous Russian Jewish philanthropist who died in 1904. Wissotzky once owned the tea concession for the Czar's entire military operation. Since the Czar's soldiers numbered in the millions and tea drinking was a daily Russian custom, this concession made Wissotzky very rich. One day, Wissotzky was approached by the World Zionist Organization to begin a tea business in Israel. He laughed at this preposterous idea: the market was small, the Turkish bureaucracy was strict, and tea leaves from India were too costly to import. Jewish leaders persisted, and Wissotzky started a small tea company in Israel. After his death, the tea company passed to his heirs. Then in 1917, the communists swept to power in Russia, seizing all of the Wissotzky company's assets. The only business left in their possession was the small tea company in Israel. The family fled Russia, built the Israeli business, and today Wissotzky is a leading brand of tea in Israel, with exports to countries worldwide -- including Russia.

Building by youth may be destructive, while when elders dismantle, it is constructive (Nedarim 40a).

It seems paradoxical, but it is true. We make the most important decisions of our lives when we are young and inexperienced, and our maximum wisdom comes at an age when our lives are essentially behind us, and no decisions of great moment remain to be made.

While the solution to this mystery eludes us, the facts are evident, and we would be wise to adapt to them. When we are young and inexperienced, we can ask our elders for their opinion and then benefit from their wisdom. When their advice does not coincide with what we think is best, we would do ourselves a great service if we deferred to their counsel.

It may not be popular to champion this concept. Although we have emerged from the era of the `60s, when accepting the opinion of anyone over thirty was anathema, the attitude of dismissing older people as antiquated and obsolete has-beens who lack the omniscience of computerized intelligence still lingers on.

Those who refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. We would do well to swallow our youthful pride and benefit from the teachings of the school of experience.

Today I shall...

seek advice from my elders and give more serious consideration to deferring to their advice when it conflicts with my desires.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...